frayer

Inherited from Old French freier, from Latin fricāre.

• IPA^(key): /fʁɛ.je/ ~ /fʁe.je/

• Audio:

  (file)

frayer

1. (obsolete) to rub
2. (zoology, intransitive) to spawn, to fertilize an egg
3. (transitive) to open up, clear (a path, a way, etc.)

   se frayer un chemin à travers quelque chose ― to clear a path for oneself across to something

   • 2000, Jean-François Parot, L'énigme des Blancs-Manteaux, JC Lattès, published 2012, page 32:

     Nicolas, accoutumé à l’ordre bonhomme des marchés provinciaux, dut se frayer un chemin au milieu d’un véritable chaos.

     Nicolas, used to the good-natured order of provincial markets, had to find his way through a veritable chaos.

4. (intransitive) to mix, to associate

   frayer avec quelqu’un ― to associate with someone

This is a regular -er verb as far as pronunciation is concerned, but as with other verbs in -ayer (such as payer and essayer), the <y> of its stem may optionally be written as <i> when it precedes a silent <e> (compare verbs in -eyer, which never have this spelling change, and verbs in -oyer and -uyer, which always have it; verbs in -ayer belong to either group, according to the writer's preference).

• frai

• “frayer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.